Some of the photos used do not have permission
but a link to the site is offered
Jews
probably first arrived as traders accompanying the Romans. A
chronicler
mentioned a community in Brno by 1091. Jews were
also noted in 1140 in the
northeastern city Olomouc and later
(1249) were mentioned in municipal law of Jihlava, located in
Moravia. Jews, in the 13th century were limited from doing
anything but lending money and engaging in menial trade.
Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918 and it's first president,
Tomas Masaryk supported Jewish nationhood. An excellent article
authored by Phyllis Ellen Funke was published in Hadassah Magazine
issue of March 2005.
14,000 of the 20,000
German, Austrian and Czech Jews deported to Latvia
were
murdered there in WW II. After May, 1945, there were 2,803
Jews living in Bohemia and Moravia. By 1948 there were more
than 44,000, but many later emigrated to Israel. In 1950,
there were only 18,000 and by 1970, only 2,000 Jews remained in
Moravia.
The Czech Republic
is located southeast of Germany and is slightly smaller
than the state of South Carolina. Land boundaries are Austria,
Germany, Poland and Slovakia. Nearly 85% of the Czech Jewish
population were murdered in the Holocaust. Today, there are
10.3 million people living in this country. 77,291 -- names are
painted on the wall of the sanctuary of the 500 year old Pinkas
Synagogue in Prague. After WW II, the Communist rule made
Jewish living even more difficult.
"The Web
Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities In Bohemia and Moravia" "Die
Juden
und Judengemeinden Bohmens in Vergangenheit un Genenwart "
http://www.jewishgen.org/BohMor/index.html
"The Web
Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities In Bohemia and Moravia" "Die
Juden
und Judengemeinden Mahrens in Vergangenheit un Gegenheit "
http://www.jewishgen.org/bohmor/gemeinde.htm
"GemeindeView"
The beginnings of a web based encyclopedia commemorating all of
the Jewish
communities that once existed in the Bohemia-Moravia
regionat
http://www.jewishgen.org/bohmor/gemeinde.htm
The name Bohemia
is still used in the Czech Republic which consists of
Bohemia and Moravia. And here is a little bit of an
interesting fact about Bohemia which was once a country and
is now a region within the Czech Republic -- it was illegal in the
15th
century to sell hops outside the country. In fact, it was
considered such a heinous
crime that the punishment for violating
the law was death.
Books
Most books, CDs, etc. can
be ordered through my link to Amazon.com by
clicking here
>
Jewish Genealogy
"Ancient Ashkenazic Surnames: Jewish Surnames
from Prague (15th to 18th
Centuries)"
Authored by Alexander Beider.
This book identifies 700 surnames from this ancient city of Prague.Buy from Amazon.comBuy
from Amazon.com
"Czech Business Directory" This site includes Postal
Code searches, important addresses and maps. http://www.muselik.com/
"Czech Jewish Vital Records Registers"
Authored by professional genealogist Felix Gundacher of Vienna,
Austria has published two editions; one for Bohemia and one
for Moravia. The Bohemian book costs about $21.00 and the
Moravia book is priced at about $15.00. Each entry in the book
shows the town and time span. Roman Catholic register entries are
listed when they include Jewish records Gundacher's e-mail address
is
ihff@netway.at
Additional information http://ihff.nwy.at/index.htm
"The Great
Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe: A Travel
guide and
Resource Book to Prague, Warsaw, Cracow, and Budapest"
Authored by Eli Valley
Buy from Amazon.comBuy
from Amazon.com
"Jews In Svoboda's Army In The Soviet
union-Czechoslovak Jewry's
Fight
Against the Nazis During World War
II"
Authored by Erich Kulka. It gives a detailed history of the formation and
fighting of
Svoboda's Army and includes lists of its soldiers that
either fell in battle or received
medals.
"The History
of the Jews of Tachau"
email:
gmz262@nwu.ed
who may have more information
"Jewish Surnames in
Prague: (15th-18th Centuries)"
Authored by Alexander Beider
"The
Problem of the Immigrant"
Authored by James Davenport Whelpley and published in London by
Chapman & Hall
Ltd in 1905. Chapter 14 - Austria-Hungary- features an English translation of the Hungarian
Emigration Law of 1903. Use this site to start your research in
the Czech
Republic.
http://www.iarelative.com/hung1903/
General Czech Genealogical
Information
In the August 10 2000
issue of JewishGen Digest, Louis Schonfeld wrote about
Czechoslovakia very succinctly. "Those of us doing research on
East Central Europe
know that Czechoslovakia is more of a
concept than an actual place. It is an ideological haven for those
emigrants who wish to be perceived as a little bit more educated,
sophisticated and enlightened vis-a vis the surrounding cultures and
countries.
To be a Czech
was to be unlike the stern "Huns", the too emotional "Magyars"
or the unsophisticated "Slavs", but rather a citizen of the
new democratic world view. Czechoslovakia, excluding the
period of the Communist dictatorship, lasted as a
recognized
independent country for a total of 18 years: from the ratification
of the Treaty of Trianon in 1920 until the infamous Munich Pact
of 1938.
Excluding that small
window of time in history, the area referred to by so many as
Czechoslovakia was in actuality the geographical entities called
Bohemia, Moravia,
Slovakia and Sub Carpathian Ruthenia.
These areas were part of the Austrian Empire, renamed the
Austro-Hungarian Empire after the Ausgleich (1867). Culturally, each entity had its own flavor which was an admixture of
the various stronger cultural elements operating there. Therefore,
Bohemia and Moravia was culturally more Germanic and Sub
Carpathian Ruthenia was culturally more Hungarian, Slovakiawas something in between. Three political entities co-exists
today as the Czech Republic - Bohemia (plus a section of
Silesia), Moravia (from the 9th to the early 10th centuries was an
empire unto itself.)
Of course, this is a
simplified description since many ethnic groups lived throughout the
country and each contributed elements of their lifestyle to the
cultural whole."
E-mail Hitachdut Yotsey Csechoslovakia at
csjews@zahav.net.il
The association
publishes the "Hazman
Haze" and further information can
be obtained by writing to PO Box 29833 Tel Aviv 61297, Israel
*BohMor*
The abbreviation used on the
Austria-Czech SIG for Bohemia and Moravia. The term is
now archaic/extinct but may still appear if you google it, referring
to a period prior to our name change to: Austria-Czech SIG
http://www.jewishgen.org/austriaczech/
Cane Traders of
Prague
"This belatedly is the start of the story [much
updated] about the cane traders of Prague which I first
submitted as an earlier version to the Austria-Czech SIG:
http://www.jewishgen.org/austriaczech/
ThePrague census of 1792 - 1794
Vol VI/I brings up some very interesting
professions including "Spanisches Rohrhandler" [umlaut *a* in
handler]. I looked this up [assuming it was sugar cane]
and got a "google whack":
http://www.toninorubattu.it/ita/C1.htm
the word could also encompass "rattan" fauteuil rotin,
French = Spanischesrohr Sessel, Ger = cane armchair
However if you look up *Spanisches rohr* as two separate
words you get many hits in German and you soon get you lost
in a botanical jungle. Spanisches rohr was
indeed imported from Asia and traded via Amsterdam and
London at high prices in
that era. After consultation with a number of other Austria-Czech
Siggers, we now think the Prague traders dealt in the above
as well as in European-grown reeds and rattan of various sorts,
which could have many uses: matting, caning, basket-making, walking
sticks, musical instruments, papermaking, ceiling/wall/roof
construction etc. One correspondent from Israel who was born
in Prague in the mid-1920s remembers in his youth, seeing
ceilings in old houses constructed with cane.
The surprising finding resulting from my research into the
eighteenth century "cane" traders of Prague, was that
four out of the ten traders were called JEITELES/JAITELES. I suspect
they may have been related. Below I list all the
Jewish "cane" traders of Prague in 1792-94 that I could
identify:
1. Veit JEITELES [121]* widower with 5
sons. Only one [Abraham No 4] married in 1791 in Kronich, Germany, so we must assume that the others
are all adult and Veit is probably 55 or over.
2. Michael JAITELES [44]
3. Low JAITELES aka Lewi JAITELES - one
son [300]
4. Herschmann Michl JEITELES/JAIELES [129]
5. Abraham LEIPPEN [145]
6. Absalom KISCH probably identical to Abraham Hersch KISCH [281]
7. Jakob Abraham RADISCH [118]
8. Naphtale HOCK [210]
9. Moses THORSCH {son of Isak Moises THORSCH} [281]
10. Elias WEDELES [widower] one son Salomon, absent in
Peteine? [258]
I find it rather astounding that 10 Jewish families were living off
this trade - presumably as wholesalers - in Prague in the
late 1700s. I wish we could do a similar study in Vienna and
elsewhere. An enterprising Austria-Czech Sigger, Julia Clark, has
consulted an online 1808 London trade directory and only found two "whalebone
& cane merchants" and five "whip, stick & cane shops/
manufacturers". From a posting by Celia Male [U.K.]
Footnotes: * These numbers refer to the pages in Vol VI/1 -
Prague Jewish
census of 1792 and 1794 ISBN 80-86712-34-6, where the families
appear in full.
Czech Digital Files
- The Kramerius System
The Czech digital files are known as The Kramerius System - a
Content Management System (CMS) intended for making digitized
library documents accessible either on a local area network, such as
a college, major office building etc. or on the internet. It came
into being as a result of the devastating Czech floods of
2002 which resulted in a great number of destroyed or damaged books.
www.kramerius.com
TheCzech
Federation of Jewish Communities
Their resources are
limited by the need to maintain some 350 cemeteries and 180
synagogues across the country. The president is Jan Munk and the
executive director
is Tomas Kraus.
Devoted to a
series of records from BohMor and neighbouring territories. Although
the emphasis is on Aufrichtigs included in these lists, maiden names
of women folk are deliberately included in the hope that this may
aid other researchers.
Business to business
company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access,
international and European business directory (professional
services, addresses and
business classifieds http://www.europages.net
Federation of Jewish
Communities in the Czech Republic
In the lands of the former Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy - a Guide to Archives and Parish-Registers
http://ihff.nwy.at/hpmain.htm
Jewish Communities
The forum of Jewish
communities (Kehillot) from Czechoslovakia contains a list of
over 550 lost communities from Czechia, Moravia and Slezia,
Slovakia and Podkarpatska Rus, where there has once been
a Jewish community of over 50 living Jews. There are now over 261.
"Connection People", "Anshei Kesher", who are
registered in the database, most of them were born in the town and
they volunteered to try and preserve its heritage, and who can still
give information.
http://www.zchor.org/CZECH.htm
Discover, via a visual tour, Jewish sites
including the Jewish Old Town area in Prague, the medieval
ghetto in Polna and Trebic, photos and information
about the holocaust WW II memorial in Terezin. Though this
is a commercial travel site, it deserves your review at
http://jewish.tourstoprague.com/
Jewish Library of
Prague
The Nazis in 1942
decided to preserve several synagogues and the library building in
the Pragueghetto as a collection point for Jewish
ritual items and books looted mainly from synagogues and private
collections in Bohemia and Moravia. The museum objects are
now so well preserved and displayed that it is a focal point of
tourism in the city.
The Jewish Library of
Prague (JLP), has been preserved intact since it was
founded in
1857. It started with 6,000 volumes and by 1938, there
were 23,000 books and 350 manuscripts. At the beginning of WW II,
these mere moved to the Zlata Koruna
Monastery in south Bohemia
and they were returned to Prague in 1946. Many of the
books
in the collection are marked with the signature "Jc" on a
half-title or title page and a yellow label, called
'Ghettburcherie', was glued to the spine. One hundred thousand
books were sent from Terezin to Prague.
After the war, 40,000
of these books were sent to the Jewish National Library in Israel.
The rest were returned to the Jewish institutions from which they
were stolen. Today, the library contains approximately 100,00
volumes, many rare Jewish books and 400 manuscripts. If you are
interested in the story of the JLP, you can read it in the American
Jewish World Archives dated May 31, 2002 which was written by Rabbi
Bernhard Raskas or write to:
American Jewish
World 4509 Minnetonka Blvd
Minneapolis, MN 55416
Rabbi Marc Liebhaber - Publisher
Mordecai Specktor - Managing Editor
952-259-5280
FAX: 952-920-6205
EMAIL: mordecaip@aol.com
Maps
Map of Prague -
an excellent current map of the city
The
capital city for the Czech Republic's second city isBrno. Armaments were made here for the Jewish underground
for use in Israel's fight for independence. Jews were expelled from
royal cities between 1454 and 1514 and in 1526, by decree of the
Catholic Hapsburg King Ferdinand I, began centuries of official, if
not always enforced, religious intolerance. When Charles VI became
King in 1725, he limited marriages by Jews to one son per family and
mandated geographical separation in Moravian towns. Jews,
who numbered about 43,000 in 1867, finally received full rights as
Hapsburg monarchy citizens.
Jews
then became involved in trade, textile and clothing industries,
timber, glass, sugar, malt, mining, iron and steel, even working on
the railroad. Intellectuals and artists, philosophers and
politicians began to emerge.
Attempt to help locate people who, despite the
passage of so many years since World War II, may still exist "out
there". This organization also assists in the process of
re-possession of property in the Czech Republic. See their
Web page at http://remember.org/unite/
Translating
There are many translating services, some for free, available to
help with
your translating needs in most languages including Czech,
C'esky. One of these sites is
http://www.dictionaries.travlang.com/
Just in case you
didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign
language department. They may offer to write letters and translate
letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged.
Just in case you
didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign
language department. They may offer to write letters and translate
letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged.
Vulgo
A Latin word used to
define "commonly known as" in Czech Birth Registryentries.
Yeshiva University
Museum in New York
Has a permanent
exhibit that include an illuminated 15th century Prague
Bible.
An
excellent site to find information about most European
countries is at
http://searcheurope.com
and type in the name of the country you wish to research
in the search field. This site is a great source to
find information for almost every European country.
Global
Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of
2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted
by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab
separated list is available for each country.
www.calle.com/world/
Capital
city of the Moravian region of Czechoslovak. 11,000
Jews were deported by the Nazis in 1939 to Theresienstadt and other
death camps. Only a few ever returned after WW II. There are about
200 Jews living among a population of 350,000 in 2005. There is a
synagogue, built in 1936. It is the orthodox Agudas Ahim located at
13 Skorepka. City maps identify "Das Alte Ferdinandstor (The Old
Ferdinand Gate) as "The Jewish Gate". It is located at the
end of Masarykova, the city's main street. Klein Palace is located
at No. 15 in the oldest plaza (Namesti Svobody) and was built
in the mid-19th century for
Jewish ironworks owners.
Holesov Synagogue Had 1,700 members in the mid-19th century. It is located about
five miles east of Brno. It is said to have been designed in
the 18th century to resemble a huge crown. One of its former rabbis
was Shabbetai ben Meir Ha-Kohen (1621-1662; he is known as the
Shakh, after his book Siftei Kohen. His grave is in the local
Jewish cemetery.
Moravian Gallery (Moravska Galerie)
Built in the late 19th century for a Jewish industrialist
www.moravska-galerie.cz/eng
Villa
Tugendhat Built in 1930 for a young married Jewish couple of the Tugendhat
family, owners of
numerous textile factories is located at
Cernopolni 45
www.tugendhat-villa.cz/html.en
Bushchyno
The Rusyn name for
Bustyahaza. Bustyahaza was the former Magyar (Hungarian)
name. During the Soviet period, it had the spelling Bushtyna,
which is also the current Ukrainian spelling. Bushtino was the former
Czechoslovak official place name.
Bzenc
There was a Jewish
presents
Cesky Krumlov
Main
square. Once a wealthy trading center. Within the Old Inn, there
are vaults dating from the 13th century.
Ceska Trevova
This place name exists
in both Bohemia and Moravia and was often prefixed by
"Bohmisch"
or "Mahrisch" in order to distinguish it (now
'Ceske/Ceska' and 'Moravske/Moravska') 'Ceska Trebova and
Moravska Trebova (please note the correct spelling) are two
distinct towns about 30 km (20 miles) from each other on the
respective side of the traditional border between Bohemia and
Moravia. There are several other towns that use the
descriptor "Cesky/Ceska" and Moravsky/Moravska" to
distinguish themselves from a town of the same name in another
land. Usually that have as little to do with each other as Paris,
Texas has to do with Paris, France. (See Cesky Krumlov/Moravsky
Krumlov, Beske Budejovice (formerly Budweis of Budweiser beer fame)
/ Moravske Budejovice, Cesky Tesin/Cieszyn, etc.)'
Cimysl
166 miles north
northwest of Vienna or about 45 km (30 miles) southeast of
Liberec on Highway E442 (or Hwy 35) and about 60 km (40 miles)
northeast of Prague, in Northern Bohemia.
There is a synagogue,
built around 1885, for some 100 members of the Jewish community,
which later declined during the next 30 years.
During WW II, it was turned into a workshop
and later became a military storage room under the Communist
regime. By the 1980s, the synagogue was in need of complete
reconstruction, but the nearby Jewish community in Plzen
lacked money to fund repairs. Michal Klima paid $5,600 for the
synagogue after he discovered that it was up for sale on the
Internet. He hopes to raise enough money to turn the building into
a Jewish Museum. More information about this synagogue can be in in
both English and Czech at www.hartmanice.cz
Horni Benesov
Formerly
in Austria andknown then as Bennisch
Jicin
There are Regional
Special Interest Groups that have Czech Republic information
and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG,
Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German
SIG
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
Jonava (Yanovo)
Located in the
Kovno Uyezd. In JewishGen's ShtetlSeeker, there are
Yanovo's/Janowa's in Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Poland, Romania and Russia. There are also many towns
named Janow in Poland, including a Janow
Podlaski and a Janow Lubelskie. There is even another
Yonavo in Lithuania other than the one in Kovno Uyezd
- today it is called Jokavai.
According to a fellow
genealogist, Karl Pollak who contacted me with some fine
suggestions of improving our knowledge on several topics, 'there are at least 35
towns and villages with a name that is a variant of Janov in
Czech or Slovakia. However, not a single town namedJonava or Yanovo/Janovo is located in the Czech or
Slovak Republics. All of those names are based in one Slavic
form or another on the Christian name 'Jan' (John) one of the
Apostles. It would be near impossible to locate such a town without
further data or a more accurate name reference.' Ada Green
offered a listing of Jonava Societies and Associations associated
with the JGSNY Cemetery Project in a message to the JewishGen Digest
group on December 10, 2000 Message No. 4
http://gutstein.net/jonava/jonava-home.htm
Klobuck
Located within a short
distance of Czestochowa, which is inPoland. 'There
are, in addition, two towns of a similar name in the Czech
Republic, Klobuky and Klobouky. Neither of these
towns are anywhere near the Polish border nor the city of Czestochowa.'
Kolin
It is a town in what is now
known as the Czech Republic. Jews were known to have
lived here from at least 1650 as there is a Torah commissioned by
Viennese financier Samuel Oppenheim was part of his gift of a holy
ark to house the scroll. It now resides, after being restored,
in the ark at Temple Ahavath Shalom in Northridge, California.
Kolin's Jewish community flourished until 1938, when the Germans
entered the then Czechoslovakia and began the systematic removal of
Jews. In 1942, the entire Jewish population was deported and
much of their belongings confiscated including the torah scroll.
The scroll remained in Prague for three decades until the Soviet
invasion, when it was found in a warehouse, together with more than
1,500 other scrolls in a damp and deserted synagogue.
Kosice (Kaschau)
There was a Jewish
presence here before WW II
Krnov (Jaegerndorf)
Contact Melody Katz. There are Regional
Special Interest Groups that have Czech Republic information
and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and
Stammbaum - German SIG at
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
Lidice
A former steel workers
village, is located in western Czechoslovakia (today's
Czech
Republic) and is located some 20 km northwest of Prague
and about 5 km (3 miles) east of the steel town ofKladno
and
about 15 km west of Prague. There were no known Jews living
in this town of about 300.
This tiny town was little known until June 10,
1942, when it was destroyed by the German army in retaliation for
the assassination of the German police General Reinhardt Heydrich
'The village was burnt to the ground in a blind rage in the same
fashion as Oradour in France. Most of its inhabitants
were executed on the spot.'
http://www.fwkc.com/encyclopedia/low/articles
/1/015000915ftml
Lidice Memorial Book
Because partisans* had killed the
German Army Commander Reinhardt Heydrich near this small town, it
was determined by the German authorities that this Catholic town
should be destroyed and made as an example to the rest of the
country's population. 173 men (16 years of age and older)
were rounded up and killed and the women and children were
deported. Then the Germans blew up all of the buildings and finally
covered the town's remains with earth to hide their repulsive deed.
* According to Karl
Pollak, he states 'Grossly inaccurate'. Heinrich was
assassinated by a group of Czech paratroopers dropped into the area
by the British RAF, not by any partisans. Also the claim that
Heydrich was killed 'near this town' is downright silly. He was
assassinated on the opposite side of Prague on his way to his
office at the Prague Castle.' Referenced:
http://www.radio.cz/php/parse.phtml?soubor=
/english/cur-affrs/19-6-01.xml
Over 4,500 persons are
buried in the Jewish cemetery of Nikolsburg - now Mikulov.
The Jewish quarter is located on the slopes beneath Mikulov's castle
and was the spiritual, cultural and political center of Jewish Moravia, and until the mid 19th century, the area's largest
community. It was the seat of Moravia's rabbinate.
Regional
Special Interest Groups
Has Czech Republic
information and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-MoraviaSIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and
Stammbaum - German SIG at
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
Jewish Historical Sights Remnants
from a synagogue may be viewed while taking a visual tour. Jewish
sites
including the Jewish Old Town area in Prague, the
medieval ghetto in Polna and Trebic, photos and
information about the holocaust WW II memorial in Terezin.
Though this is a commercial travel site, it deserves your review at
http://jewish.tourstoprague.com/
Prague (Praha)
"Jewish Surnames in
Prague: (15th-18th )"
Authored by Alexander Beider
"The Great Jewish
Cities of Central and Eastern Europe:
A Travel Guide and
Resource
Book to Prague, Warsaw,
Cracow and Budapest"
Authored by Eli
Valley
Buy from Amazon.comBuy
from Amazon.com
"The
Rabbi Beneath the Clay" A story about the Maharal, Rabbi
Loew, and can be
read in the October/November 2009 issue of
October/November of Hadassah Magazine.
There are about 1,600
Jews in the Prague community.
The capital of the Czech Republic and is located on the Moldau (Vltava)
River.The Second World War and Jewish monuments near
Prague Click on "Incoming Business and Congress Travel" and
then on "The Czechs & Slovak Republics - Destination Profile"
http://www.tbs.cz/toCP1250/e5a_worldwar.htm
Today, the Jewish
population is about 1,600 and the Jewish Quarter is no longer
Jewish. Tomas Jelinek is the chair of the city's Jewish community
in 2009.
The
little town is a quarter of winding narrow streets of small artisan
houses and palaces from the 17th and 18th centuries. The Jewish Old
Town lays between the right bank of the Vltava River and the Old
Town Square and included the ghetto.
1938 Prague and suburbs telephone directory
With address and in some cases occupations of subscribers listed.
Thomas Reiner
viukerville@worldnet.att.net
has offered to do a lookup for anyone needing such information.
Prague Jewish
Cemetery
Over 12,000 headstones. It was once part of the Jewish ghetto, and
because space was so dear, bodies are buried 12 deep, the first in
1439, the last in 1787 - 100,000 or more. The most prominent
tombstone is the one for the Maharal 9 The Rabbi Loew. A sign at
the cemetery states that of the 92,000 Jews who lived in 1941 in
Prague, 80,000 were deported or exterminated.
http://www.porges.net/JewishCemeteriesPrague.html
There is a documentary that provides historical background and
current interviews that reveal a mystical city and its claim to fame
-- Rabbi Judah Loew's golem. Actually, Rabbi Loew was born in
Poznan, Poland and probably studied at a yeshiva in Krakow.
Although his exact ancestry is unclear, his father came from the
Czech region of Bohemia. www.houseoflifefilm.com
Prague Jewish
Quarter Known as Josefov,holds a treasury of Jewish art
and architecture and is located towards the north of the old city of
Prague. An outstandingly beautiful area incorporating the Jewish
Cemetery, a number of synagogues including the Pinkas,
Maisel, the Spanish and the Klaus Synagogues,
museums and residencies, and the Old Town Hall. It is particularly
notable for the Pinkas Synagogue, which serves as a memorial
for the Czechoslovak Jews who died in the Holocaust. The Pinkas
Synagogue's memorial contains the handwritten inscriptions of
the names of 80,000 Czech Holocaust victims. It is a maze of
Czech history, winding through time and preserved simply
because no WW II bombs fell here. There is so much to see, that it
takes days to see it all.
The 13th century
Old-New Synagogue and Pinkas Synagogue
Available for
touring. The names of 80,000 Jews who perished in the war are
inscribed on the walls inside the Pinkas Synagogue;; a list viewed
by many in eerie silence. Fifteen thousand were Jewish children who
were killed at Terezin Concentration Camp, located nearby.
Prague Synagogue
Artist Dora Shampanier (1922-1997) A gallery of many of Dora's
bronze etchings
available at http://www.my-synagogue.com
Jewish Historical Sights Discover, via a visual tour, Jewish sites including the Jewish
Old Town area in Prague, the medieval ghetto in Polna
and Trebic, photos and information about the Holocaust WW II
memorial in Terezin. Though this is a commercial travel
site, it deserves your review at
http://jewish.tourstoprague.com/
Jewish Museum A good place to start a tour of Jewish Prague. The museum has
all kinds of flags and paraphernalia. The old cemetery and five
synagogues nearby comprise the Museum and a single ticket is good
for admission to most sites. Leo Pavlat is the director of the
museum.
Judah
Loew ben Bezalel, also known as the Maharal was a chief rabbi of
Prague whose writings have influenced countless Jewish scholars. To
many Jews and non-Jews, Loew is known as the creator of the Golem, a
clay giant made to protect the Jews of Prague.
The Ceremonial Hall
A good place to start a tour of the Jewish quarter, which
consists of a string of sites. One ticket allows you to enter five
of the great synagogues, the Ceremonial Hall and the Old Jewish
Cemetery and are open 9 am daily, except on Jewish holidays.
Spanish Synagogue
A restored 19th century building featuring a Moorish interior and a
stained-glass dome.
Stare Mesto
Translates to 'Old Town' and that portion of the city called
new town is actually 600 years old. Prague's ghetto,
Josefov, is one of Europe's oldest.
Wenceslas Square With its broad, sloping boulevard, links Old and New Town,
connecting the city's rich past with its modern attitude. Nearby is
the 16th century Astronomical clock, the medieval Powder Tower and
the New Town Hall. The 10th century Prague Ghetto is close as is
the Charles Bridge, lined by 20 Baroque statues.
A significant Jewish
community located nearZjmno. A thriving Jewish community
existed until the railroad bypassed the town in the 1870s. Many
Jews then relocated to towns closer to the railroad.
Regional Special Interest Groups
Has Czech
Republic information and links. The site includes links to
Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG,
Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG at
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe
.html
Samosoly
Located approximately
100 miles northwest of Vienna and is in southwestern Bohemia. About 16 km (10 miles) northwest of
Jindrichuv
Hradec, a very small settlement of only a few houses.
A plaque commemorating
Jewish Holocaust victims is located at the site of a former
synagogue which was burned down by the Nazis in 1938. Only two of
the town's 57
pre-war Jewish inhabitants survived.
Located
about five miles north of Brno, once had a Jewish community.
This is the home town of Oskar Schindler who saved 1,200 Jews and
was made famous in Spielberg's movie.
Terezin (Theresienstadt)
The location of the
former infamous concentration camp which had been passed off as the
"model ghetto" by the Nazis. It is located about 1 hour northwest of
Prague and was a fortress built under the Emperor Josef II in
1780-90. It was originally meant to protect access roads against
the Prussian army during the Prussian-Austrian
wars in the 18th century. It never fulfilled its purpose,
but even after it lost the status of 'fortress', it remained a
garrison town, with its Small Fortress serving since the early 19th
century, as a jail. Before WW II, Terezin had a Ghetto and
today it has a Jewish Museum.
Trebic
Jewish Historical
Sights - discover, via a visual tour, Jewish sites including the
Jewish Old Town area in Prague, the medieval ghetto in Polna and
Trebic, photos and information about the
holocaust WW II memorial in Terezin. On the opposite side of
the Jihlava River, from the towns main center, the old Jewish Town
lies along a strip of land with over 115 of the area's original 121
houses remaining.
Synagogue
The Rear Synagogue resembles its early 17th
century Renaissance baroque design and is now a small museum showing
off it's Jewish past.
107 local Jews were
transported to the Terezin transit camp during WW II
with only 9 survived the Holocaust. Thus ended almost 600 years of
Jewish presence in this
community. A memorial plaque in the town
commemorates the local Jews who were
taken from the town.
Trubau
Most likely refers to
the town name of Trebova
Tschimischi (Tremesek)
123 miles north
northeast of Vienna and about 15 km (9 miles) southeast of
the town ofSumperk in the Jeseniky mountains of northern
Moravia (Silesia)
Usti
More than
1,000 Jews were killed in the Holocaust. A memorial to these
victims is located in Usti nad Labern's town park, where once
there was a Jewish cemetery at the location. Bedrich Heller is the
chairman of the town's Jewish community in 2005. Two prominent
members of the Jewish community of about 1,250 individuals, prior
to the Holocaust, were Eduard Jakob Weinmann and Ignaz Petschek. Of
the 195 survivors, most emigrated after the war leaving about 50
Jews living in the town today.
Uzhorod
There was a Jewish
presence here before WW II
Valasske Mezirici
There are Regional Special Interest Groups
that have Czech Republic information and links. The site
includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG,
German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German
SIG at
http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
There is
nothing like seeing for yourself, so Shirley and I traveled to Prague in August 2006. We took a river cruise, after spending
four days in Budapest and ended our visit in Prague.
Quoting
a statement in an article about Moravia published in the
March 2005 issue of
Hadassah magazine, "Commercial tourist
establishments catering to Jewish travelers are generally
overpriced and ill prepared." "The the most thorough overall
guide to Czech-Jewish sights and sites extant - Jiri
Fiedler's Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia (Gefen
Books) has recently been reprinted, it remains, at least mere months
ago, extremely outdated." Two feasible ways of proceeding are via
direct contact with regional communities and/or local tourist
offices.
Private Tours
A commercial travel service, has been operating since 1997 in Prague and across the
CzechRepublic. They work with 5
stars hotels and others. They handle the usual logistical
arrangements such as hotel transfers and bookings, but I see their
real specialty is offering over 16 city tours and 30 different trips
into the Czech countryside. According to their web site,
their guides are very knowledgeable. They do it all, from private
walking tours for individuals and groups, minivan and bus tours to
arranging tickets for concerts and events, choosing restaurants, and
arranging private boat tours.
http://jewish.tourstoprague.com/
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